TAMPA, Fla. — A newly filed House Bill 401 in the Florida State Legislature is taking aim to protect Florida’s housing market from multi-national investment companies buying up entire neighborhoods or huge swaths of homes to convert them into permanent rental properties.

Florida has seen at least two major single-family home price spikes in the past two decades, in some cases doubling and even tripling the cost to buy a new home.

State Rep. Berny Jacques has filed the bill, and says it will not only level the playing field between investment companies and Floridians, but it will help prevent future price spikes.

What You Need To Know

  • HB 401 would allow local governments to zone land specifically for single-family housing, blocking multinational corporations from buying huge swaths of housing and turning them into permanent rentals

  • Florida has seen two major housing price spikes since the housing crash in 2008

  • The National Rental Home Council is firing back against the new House bill, saying it restricts who can rent homes in certain communities, and would take away housing choices for Floridians

  • HB 401 does not have a companion bill in the Senate, a requirement for the bill to move forward 

“It takes out homes from the supply, and where there is less of something, it cost more,” said Jacques. “So when there is less homes for ownership for an ordinary Floridian, all home prices go up, so that poses a problem and an issue for Floridians.”

HB 401 does not yet have a companion bill in the Florida Senate, a requirement should the bill move forward.

The National Rental Home Council is firing back against the bill.

In a statement to Spectrum Bay News 9 partner newspaper the Tampa Bay Times, it said “This bill seems to be nothing more than a blatant attempt to prevent renters from having the right to live in certain communities. Why would it ever make sense for the state to reduce the range of housing opportunities available for families in Florida? We need more choice in housing not less.”

Jacques said the housing crash of 2008 and the pandemic were two key times where large real estate investment firms bought thousands of homes across the state and what followed was years of price increasing for average Floridians.

Florida’s home prices have leveled off since the pandemic, with Realtor.com reporting the median housing prices in Florida are down 4-6% across the state.